5.0

Design a Super Metric
Because super metric formulas can be complex, design a super metric before you use the
vCenter Operations Manager user interface to create it. The key to creating a super metric that alerts you to
the right situations is knowing your own enterprise and your data.
Procedure
1 Determine the resources that are involved in the behavior to track.
When you define the metrics to use, you can select either specific resources or resource kinds. For example,
you can select the specific resources Database Server 2 and Database Server 4, or you can select the resource
kind Database Servers. When you select a resource kind, the super metric uses all of the resources of that
kind that are children of the resource to which you assign the super metric.
2 Determine the metrics to include in the super metric.
If you are tracking the transfer of packets along a network, the metrics are packets in and packets out
because you are interested in the ratio of those metrics. In another common use of super metrics, the metrics
might be the average CPU use or average memory use of the resource kind that you select
3 Decide how to combine or compare the metrics.
For example, to find the ratio of packets in to packets out, you must divide the two metrics. If you are
tracking CPU use for a resource kind, you might want to determine the average use, or you might want
to determine what the highest or lowest use is for any any resource of that kind. In more complex scenarios,
you might need a formula that uses constants or trigonometric functions.
4 Decide where to assign the super metric.
You place super metrics in a package and assign the package to a resource. For many super metrics, you
assign the super metric package to an application to have it monitor all of the resources of the specified
kind in that application. In other cases, you define the resources to track in the super metric, but the
resource that you assign the super metric to determines where alerts occur if the super metric shows
abnormal behavior. You typically assign super metrics to a tier or application.
Build a Super Metric Formula
A super metric formula can include one or more metric specifications, super metric functions, arithmetic
operators (such as the plus or minus sign), and constants. You can enter any number of constants as part of
the formula.
You must follow certain procedures and rules when you build a super metric formula in the
vCenter Operations Manager user interface.
Prerequisites
n
Become familiar with how to construct super metric specifications. See “Super Metric Specifications,” on
page 45.
n
Become familiar with the super metric functions that vCenter Operations Manager provides. See “Super
Metric Functions,” on page 46.
Procedure
n
To use a function, select it in from the Function drop-down menu and select the resource or resource kind
and metric or attribute kind to use in its argument.
n
For looping functions that are in functN format, type the comma and value of n in the function argument.
VMware vCenter Operations Manager Enterprise Administration Guide
44 VMware, Inc.